A call to restore the Lord’s Table to our Worship
God has given us the essential elements of worship. God has demonstrated a pattern for our worship. Through the scriptures, he allows us to dig deep into the meaning of those elements. The goal of worship is to enjoy the presence of God. The presence of God also gives us a foundation for regularly celebrating the Supper of our Lord with him.
An argument from presence.
Who speaks in our worship? Ultimately it’s not the minister; ultimately, it’s not the congregation; it is our Lord Jesus who is speaking through his word. Here is one of the main differences between a historical and biblical understanding of worship and many modern understandings of worship. Worship is God coming to his people and speaking to them. It is a conversation between God, through the minister and the congregation.
When God is present among his people, he serves them a meal. We see this clearly in the Old Testament sacrificial system. God is present in a powerful way in the temple. The people of God bring many offerings to the Lord. For many of the offerings, the Lord gives a portion back to his people. We find another wonderful example of this in Exodus 24, where the seventy elders of Israel join Moses on the mountain to eat and drink with God.
God is Israel’s king, and kings give out good gifts to their subjects. We can think of Melchizedek bringing out bread and wine to serve to Abraham after Abraham has defeated Cherdolaomer of the Chaldeans. Melchizedek is greater than Abraham (demonstrated by the tithe Abraham gives to Melchizedek according to the book of Hebrews), so he is also the one who offers Abraham a feast in the book of Genesis (Genesis 14). Another example of this is the feasts that we find in the book of Esther. The great King Ahasuerus welcomes the peoples of the Empire of Persia to a banquet where there is plenty of meat, bread, and wine for all. He demonstrates the goodness of the peace that he brings in this way.
God, the great king of Israel, does the same for Israel. This truth comes out beautifully in the book of Deuteronomy, especially chapters 14 through 16. There the people of God are commanded to bring the tithe to God and are warned not to come before God empty-handed. What are they to do with those gifts? They are to feast before the Lord (Deuteronomy 14: 22-29). When they are in the presence of God, he hands out gifts.
Jesus ascends on high and is also a gift-giver. In Acts 2, we see the signs that the Spirit is with the church in a new way. God will no longer give his special presence to his people in the temple. Through Christ’s work and the Holy Spirit, He promises to be present in a unique way in and among the men and women of the congregation. Just as the Spirit dwelt in Christ so he lives in us. That means when the congregation gathers together, the Lord is there breaking the bread.
